The word abna signifies sons. It
was generally employed to designate persons one of
whose parents was an Arab and the other of a foreign
race. At the time of Mahomed and afterwards there
was in Yeman a great number of Abna whose fathers
were Persians and whose mothers were Arabs. (P. 334).

Dress of the Ulema. (P. 273).

Yahya Ibn al Munajjim whose real name was Abban Hasis,
the son of Kad, the son of Mahavindad, the son of
Farrukhdad, the son of Asad, the son of Mihr, the
son of Yezdigerd, the last of the Sasanian kings of
Persia.

Story of the onagar with the inscription on its ear
written by Bahramgor in the Kufic character.
Ibn Khallikan quotes Al Khawarezmi’s Mafatih-al-Ulum.
(P. 85).

[Sidenote: Old castles.]

Istakhri refers to the castle of Jiss in the district
of Arrajan about which we have a more exhaustive notice
by other writers. “Here lived the Magians,”
says Istakhri, “and here also are to be found
memorials of the past of Persia. The place is
strongly fortified. The castle of Iraj is also
strongly fortified. The fastnesses which cannot
be subjugated are so many that it is not possible
to detail them.”

Describing the city of Jur Istakhri says that it was
built by Ardeshir. “It is said that here
water used to be collected as in a lake. The king
had taken a vow to build a city and to erect a fire
temple at the place where he had defeated his enemy.
He had the place drained, and when it was dried he
built the city of Jur on the site. The city in
its extent is like Istakhr, Sabur, and Darabgird.
It had mud walls and moats and many gates, the eastern
one being called the gate of Mihr, the western the
gate of Bahram, the northern the gate of Hormuz, and
the southern the gate of Ardeshir. In the centre
of the city is a building with a cupola built by Ardeshir.
It is said that it is so high that it commands a view
of the city and its surroundings. High at its top
is a fire altar.[1]” (P. 56).

[Sidenote: Languages of Iran.]

In another portion of his book Istakhri describes
the inhabitants as thin, with little growth of hair
and of brown colour. “In the colder tracts,”
he continues, “the people are of a taller stature
with a thick growth of hair and very fair. They
speak three languages,—­the Parsi, which
everybody speaks and which is employed in their letters
and their literature; the Magians who dwell among
them use the Pahlavi in their writings, but it needs
for a thorough understanding an explanation in Parsi;
and Arabic which is the language used in the correspondence
of the Sultan, the Government Boards, the grandees
and the Amirs.” (P. 67).